“Only the lonely…” sang Roy Orbison. “Only” suggested extreme loneliness. Solitary is not the same; a solitary person can live alone quite happily.
“Fear not, only believe,” said Jesus to the devastated Jairus, whose only daughter had just died. But soon after, his daughter came back to life when Jesus revived her with just two words! A more lonely “only” however, was a nobleman whose son was at the point of death. Jesus did not go the many miles to where he lay to revive him, but sent the father home alone.
Not really, though, because the father went home in faith, believing that the words spoken byJesus were true. He journeyed with the promise that Jesus had given him alive in his heart. When his servants met him as he descended from Cana to Capernaum and told him that his son was well, the first thing he asked them was what time his son had recovered. He was expecting to hear the thing that he had believed.
“Only” isn’t lonely when you are walking (so to speak) in promise. Sadly, not all do. Instead, they travel with doubt and anxiety — not the best companions on an anxious journey and the worst on one that requires active faith in a time of emergency.
You may be alone in that you live a solitary life — as a widow or as a single person. But you can go a long way on a promise from the Lord and not be alone because your heart is filled with what you fully expect to see when you arrive. Two are better than one, of course: Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs. But if you do go alone, go in faith believing because the journey will then be so much better.